This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, implemented or described. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The following abbreviations that may be found in the specification and/or the drawing figures are defined as follows:                3GPP third generation partnership project        ACLR adjacent channel leakage ratio        A-MPR additional maximum power reduction        DL downlink (eNB towards UE)        eNB E-UTRAN Node B (evolved Node B)        EPC evolved packet core        E-UTRAN evolved UTRAN (LTE)        IM3 third order intermodulation product        ITU-R international telecommunication union-radiocommunication sector        L_CRB length of continuous resource block allocation (in A-MPR tables)        LTE long term evolution of UTRAN (E-UTRAN)        LTE-A LTE advanced        MAC medium access control (layer 2, L2)        MM/MME mobility management/mobility management entity        MPR maximum power reduction        NodeB base station        NS network signaling (value)        OFDMA orthogonal frequency division multiple access        O&M operations and maintenance        PA power amplifier        PDCP packet data convergence protocol        PHY physical (layer 1, L1)        PUCCH physical uplink control channel        PUSCH physical uplink shared channel        RAN4 3GPP Technical Specification Group: Radio Access Network (Radio Layer)        RB resource block        RB_start resource block allocation start index (in A-MPR tables)        Rel release        RLC radio link control        RRC radio resource control        RRM radio resource management        SEM spectral emission mask        SGW serving gateway        SC-FDMA single carrier, frequency division multiple access        UE user equipment, such as a mobile station, mobile node or mobile terminal        UL uplink (UE towards eNB)        UTRAN universal terrestrial radio access network        
One modern communication system is known as evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN, also referred to as UTRAN-LTE or as E-UTRA). In this system the DL access technique is OFDMA, and the UL access technique is SC-FDMA.
One specification of interest is 3GPP TS 36.300 V10.6.0 (2011-12) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 10), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and referred to for simplicity hereafter as 3GPP TS 36.300.
FIG. 1A reproduces Figure 4.1 of 3GPP TS 36.300 and shows the overall architecture of the EUTRAN system (Rel-8). The E-UTRAN system includes eNBs, providing the E-UTRAN user plane (PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards UEs. The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of an X2 interface. The eNBs are also connected by means of an S1 interface to an EPC, more specifically to a MME by means of a S1 MME interface and to a S-GW by means of a S1 interface (MME/S-GW 4). The S1 interface supports a many-to-many relationship between MMEs/S-GWs and eNBs.
The eNB hosts the following functions:                functions for RRM: RRC, Radio Admission Control, Connection Mobility Control, Dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both UL and DL (scheduling);        IP header compression and encryption of the user data stream;        selection of a MME at UE attachment;        routing of User Plane data towards the EPC (MME/S-GW);        scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the MME);        scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from the MME or O & M); and        a measurement and measurement reporting configuration for mobility and scheduling.        
Also of interest herein are the further releases of 3GPP LTE (e.g., LTE Rel-10, LTE-Rel-11) targeted towards future IMT-A systems, referred to herein for convenience simply as LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).
A goal of LTE-A is to provide significantly enhanced services by means of higher data rates and lower latency with reduced cost. LTE-A is directed toward extending and optimizing the 3GPP LTE Rel-8 radio access technologies to provide higher data rates at lower cost. LTE-A will be a more optimized radio system fulfilling the ITU-R requirements for IMT-Advanced while keeping the backward compatibility with LTE Rel-8.
In a carrier aggregation scenario an LTE-A terminal may simultaneously receive one or multiple component carriers depending on its capabilities. An LTE-A terminal with reception capability beyond 20 MHz can simultaneously receive transmissions on multiple component carriers. A LTE Rel-8 terminal can receive transmissions on a single component carrier only, provided that the structure of the component carrier follows the Rel-8 specifications. It is required that LTE-A should be backwards compatible with Rel-8 LTE in the sense that a Rel-8 LTE terminal should be operable in the LTE-A system, and that a LTE-A terminal should be operable in a Rel-8 LTE system. This requirement is met by ensuring that at least one LTE-A component carrier follows the Rel-8 LTE specifications.
Uplink and downlink frames (of 10 msec duration) are defined in 3GPP TS 36.211 V10.4.0 (2011-12) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation (Release 10). FIG. 1B reproduces Figure 6.2.2-1: Downlink resource grid, of 3GPP TS 36.211 and shows the relationship of OFDM symbols, subcarriers, resource blocks (RBs) and resource elements (REs).
Also of interest herein is 3GPP TS 36.101 V10.5.0 (2011-12) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception (Release 10). 3GPP TS 36.101 V10.5.0 (2011-12), hereafter referred to simply as 3GPP TS 36.101. Section 5 “Operating Bands and Channel Arrangement” and Section 6 “Transmitter Characteristics” are attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated by reference herein.